Chapter 2 - THE WIFE WHO NEVER HELD HIM
Claire came down the stairs slowly.
Her bare feet made no sound on the marble.
“Rosa,” she said again. “Give me my son.”
Rosa held Ethan tighter without meaning to.
Daniel noticed.
So did Claire.
“Now.”
Rosa swallowed.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She handed Ethan over.
The second Claire took him, he began crying again.
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Claire bounced him awkwardly.
“Oh, stop. Stop it.”
His screams got louder.
Rosa flinched.
Claire saw her reaction.
“You can go.”
“Ma’am—”
“I said go.”
Rosa hurried toward the servants’ hall.
Daniel watched her disappear.
Then he turned to his wife.
“What was that?”
“What was what?”
“You looked scared.”
Claire laughed, but there was no humor in it.
“I came downstairs and found our maid holding our baby while my husband interrogated her. Forgive me if I looked confused.”
“I asked her if she was here the night Ethan was born.”
Claire stopped rocking him.
Just for half a second.
Daniel caught it.
“And?”
“She didn’t answer.”
“Because it’s a ridiculous question.”
“Is it?”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
“Daniel, you haven’t slept. You’re turning something normal into a conspiracy.”
“Our son screamed in my arms for forty minutes. Rosa touched him, and he stopped.”
“Babies do that.”
“He touched her face.”
“So?”
“He looked like he knew her.”
Claire stepped closer.
“You’re being insane.”
That word hit him hard.
Not because it hurt.
Because Claire only used it when she wanted a conversation dead.
Daniel had heard it when he questioned why she had disappeared for three days during her pregnancy.
He had heard it when he asked why she refused to let him attend two medical appointments.
He had heard it when he asked why the hospital paperwork had been changed after Ethan’s birth.
You’re being insane.
Daniel looked at his son.
Then at Claire.
“Where was Ethan born?”
She blinked.
“What?”
“Which delivery room?”
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
“Room number.”
“Daniel, it was six months ago.”
“I remember everything from that night.”
His voice hardened.
“I remember being told there were complications. I remember being kept outside for almost three hours. I remember your mother showing up even though we never called her.”
Claire’s face went pale.
“And I remember something else.”
She said nothing.
Daniel stepped closer.
“When they finally let me in, you weren’t holding Ethan.”
Claire stared at him.
“You said you were too weak.”
“I was.”
“But you never held him that night.”
“Stop.”
“And Rosa started working here one month before he was born.”
“Daniel.”
“Why?”
Claire’s eyes flashed.
“Because I hired her.”
“Why her?”
Silence.
Then Ethan cried even harder.
Claire suddenly shoved him toward Daniel.
“Take him.”
Daniel grabbed the baby.
“What is wrong with you?”
“I can’t do this right now.”
She turned and rushed upstairs.
Daniel stood there, stunned.
Then he heard a soft sound behind him.
A door closing.
Rosa.
Daniel handed Ethan to the night nanny and followed.
He found Rosa in the laundry room stuffing clothes into a small suitcase.
“What are you doing?”
She spun around.
“I have to leave.”
“Why?”
“I can’t stay here.”
“Rosa.”
She shook her head, tears already forming.
“Please don’t ask me.”
Daniel shut the door behind him.
“I’m asking.”
Rosa looked at him for a long time.
May you like
Then she whispered:
“Because Mrs. Whitmore knows you’re starting to remember.”
